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Secretary General Jagland calls for release of Turkish hunger strikers

Secretary GeneralStrasbourg26 June 2017

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Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland has called for the release of Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça.

Nuriye Gülmen, a professor, and Semih Özakça, a teacher, have been on hunger strike since March to protest against their dismissal on the basis of state of emergency decree-laws. Since then, they have been arrested for allegedly being a member of a terrorist organisation and are currently held in pre-trial detention.

Jagland said he would raise the case with Turkish Prime Minister Yıldırım. Speaking to deputies of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly on Monday he said: “I will call Prime Minister Yıldırım and ask for their release”.

The Secretary General also expressed his expectation that the Commission established in Turkey to deal with legal complaints of individuals dismissed on the basis of the emergency decrees would commence its work as soon as possible. "The Commission has to start its work now”, he said.